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Blockchain, Technology and Its Application
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Blockchain, Technology and Its Application

A special issue of Information (ISSN 2078-2489). This special issue belongs to the section "Internet of Things (IoT)".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 19182

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Tieling Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
Interests: statistical data modelling; big data analytics; Bayesian inference; Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation; machine learning; decision support systems; system reliability modelling; degradation modelling and condition prediction; optimization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the advent of the new technology, blockchain, we are facing the dawn of a revolution. Blockchain, also commonly referred to as “Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)” (a synonym, but not the same), is one of those technologies that has brought about a revolution in the field of technology. While blockchain technology might be considered as disruptive in various contexts, there is still a need to understand the term and to know how it can be applied to effective areas, particularly in different industries (in a broader sense) where the technology is applicable.

Blockchain is a technology that may lead to significant changes in our business environment and will have a great impact on us over the next few decades. It will change the way we perceive business processes, and will transform our economy.

A large majority of the current blockchain-related research is dedicated to cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. Only a small percentage of the work is dedicated to exploring the wide range of potential blockchain technology applications. Blockchain technology has been applied in multiple ways across a number of industry sectors/areas including cryptocurrency, financial services, insurance, advertising, copyright protection, energy management, e-voting, government security management, cyber security, healthcare data management, supply chain and logistics, distributed manufacturing, food safety, intellectual property management, etc.   

This Special Issue intends to provide a forum for further discussion on the technological development and application trends of blockchain. It encourages the submission of state-of-the-art research on blockchain and its applications.

Dr. Tieling Zhang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Information is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • blockchain
  • IIoT (industrial IoT)
  • privacy and security
  • data management
  • latency and scalability
  • sustainability
  • resilience
  • big data
  • artificial intelligence
  • bitcoin

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 1633 KiB  
Article
Privacy-Protection Method for Blockchain Transactions Based on Lightweight Homomorphic Encryption
by Guiyou Wang, Chao Li, Bingrong Dai and Shaohua Zhang
Information 2024, 15(8), 438; https://doi.org/10.3390/info15080438 - 28 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1244
Abstract
This study proposes an privacy-protection method for blockchain transactions based on lightweight homomorphic encryption, aiming to ensure the security of transaction data and user privacy, and improve transaction efficiency. We have built a blockchain infrastructure and, based on its structural characteristics, adopted zero-knowledge [...] Read more.
This study proposes an privacy-protection method for blockchain transactions based on lightweight homomorphic encryption, aiming to ensure the security of transaction data and user privacy, and improve transaction efficiency. We have built a blockchain infrastructure and, based on its structural characteristics, adopted zero-knowledge proof technology to verify the legitimacy of data, ensuring the authenticity and accuracy of transactions from the application end to the smart-contract end. On this basis, the Paillier algorithm is used for key generation, encryption, and decryption, and intelligent protection of blockchain transaction privacy is achieved through a secondary encryption mechanism. The experimental results show that this method performs well in privacy and security protection, with a data leakage probability as low as 2.8%, and can effectively defend against replay attacks and forged-transaction attacks. The degree of confusion remains above 0.9, with small fluctuations and short running time under different key lengths and moderate CPU usage, achieving lightweight homomorphic encryption. This not only ensures the security and privacy of transaction data in blockchain networks, but also reduces computational complexity and resource consumption, better adapting to the high-concurrency and low-latency characteristics of blockchain networks, thereby ensuring the efficiency and real-time performance of transactions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain, Technology and Its Application)
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14 pages, 534 KiB  
Article
Provenance Verification of Smart Contracts: Analysing the Cost of Ensuring Authenticity over the Logic Hosted in Blockchain Networks
by Marisol García-Valls and Alejandro M. Chirivella-Ciruelos
Information 2024, 15(1), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/info15010024 - 31 Dec 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2090
Abstract
The lack of sufficient guarantee about the authenticity of running smart contracts is a major entry barrier to blockchain networks. By authenticity,we refer to the smart contract ownership or provenance; this implies perfect matching between a published source-code and the corresponding running [...] Read more.
The lack of sufficient guarantee about the authenticity of running smart contracts is a major entry barrier to blockchain networks. By authenticity,we refer to the smart contract ownership or provenance; this implies perfect matching between a published source-code and the corresponding running version of a given smart contract. Block verifiers are services that check the provenance authenticity of the logic contained in blockchain networks. Nevertheless, as a block verifier is an external verification service, it consumes time to use it; and the derived overhead may not comply with temporal requirements of time-sensitive domains like cyber-physical systems. Such systems require that the temporal cost of using external services is assessed prior to the final system deployment. To the best of our knowledge, there are no previous contributions on the determination of the temporal cost of the smart-contract provenance verification process. This paper presents the design and implementation of a middleware that assesses the temporal overhead of accessing the verification services; the middleware is hosted in the global ledger and runs the verification services over large sets of smart contracts. Our contribution is validated by providing an implementation on a real blockchain network, employing actual smart contract verifier logic, and analysing the temporal behavior of the overall system operations to comply with the time-sensitive requirements of cyber-physical systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain, Technology and Its Application)
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14 pages, 466 KiB  
Article
Monitoring Key Pair Usage through Distributed Ledgers and One-Time Signatures
by Lucas Mayr, Lucas Palma, Gustavo Zambonin, Wellington Silvano and Ricardo Custódio
Information 2023, 14(10), 523; https://doi.org/10.3390/info14100523 - 26 Sep 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1334
Abstract
Private key management is a complex obstacle arising from the traditional public key infrastructure model. However, before any related security breach can be addressed, it must first be reliably detected. Certificate Transparency (CT) is an example of a certificate issuance monitoring strategy, developed [...] Read more.
Private key management is a complex obstacle arising from the traditional public key infrastructure model. However, before any related security breach can be addressed, it must first be reliably detected. Certificate Transparency (CT) is an example of a certificate issuance monitoring strategy, developed to detect the possible malfeasance of certification authorities (CAs). To the best of our knowledge, CT and other detection mechanisms do not cover digitally signed documents made by an end user, which are also susceptible to CA misbehavior. We modify the CT framework to handle signed documents via logging certificates in the blockchain to enable the secure and user-friendly monitoring of one-time signatures, backdating protection, and effective CA misbehavior detection. Moreover, to demonstrate the feasibility of our proposal, we present distinct deployment scenarios and analyze the storage, performance, and monetary costs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain, Technology and Its Application)
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14 pages, 891 KiB  
Article
Unveiling the Confirmation Factors of Information System Quality on Continuance Intention towards Online Cryptocurrency Exchanges: The Extension of the Expectation Confirmation Model
by Hsu-Hua Lee and Hui-Chun Sung
Information 2023, 14(9), 482; https://doi.org/10.3390/info14090482 - 29 Aug 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2338
Abstract
This study is based on the Expectation Confirmation Model and the Information System Success Model to evaluate the influence of perceived usefulness and satisfaction towards online cryptocurrency exchanges. Therefore, this study deconstructs the “confirmation” component of the information system continuous use model into [...] Read more.
This study is based on the Expectation Confirmation Model and the Information System Success Model to evaluate the influence of perceived usefulness and satisfaction towards online cryptocurrency exchanges. Therefore, this study deconstructs the “confirmation” component of the information system continuous use model into three different components: confirmation of information quality, confirmation of system quality, and confirmation of service quality, to investigate the factors that influence the desire to use online cryptocurrency exchanges continuously. This research used a questionnaire methodology, with data collected from 248 users of cryptocurrency platforms. This study found that perceived usefulness and satisfaction significantly correlated with continuance intention. Furthermore, information quality, system quality, and service quality significantly correlated with perceived usefulness and satisfaction. Finally, perceived usefulness was found to be significantly correlated with satisfaction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain, Technology and Its Application)
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Review

Jump to: Research

33 pages, 2449 KiB  
Review
Exploring Blockchain Research in Supply Chain Management: A Latent Dirichlet Allocation-Driven Systematic Review
by Abderahman Rejeb, Karim Rejeb, Steve Simske and John G. Keogh
Information 2023, 14(10), 557; https://doi.org/10.3390/info14100557 - 12 Oct 2023
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 10695
Abstract
Blockchain technology has emerged as a tool with the potential to enhance transparency, trust, security, and decentralization in supply chain management (SCM). This study presents a comprehensive review of the interplay between blockchain technology and SCM. By analyzing an extensive dataset of 943 [...] Read more.
Blockchain technology has emerged as a tool with the potential to enhance transparency, trust, security, and decentralization in supply chain management (SCM). This study presents a comprehensive review of the interplay between blockchain technology and SCM. By analyzing an extensive dataset of 943 articles, our exploration utilizes the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) method to delve deep into the thematic structure of the discourse. This investigation revealed ten central topics ranging from blockchain’s transformative role in supply chain finance and e-commerce operations to its application in specialized areas, such as the halal food supply chain and humanitarian contexts. Particularly pronounced were discussions on the challenges and transformations of blockchain integration in supply chains and its impact on pricing strategies and decision-making. Visualization tools, including PyLDAvis, further illuminated the interconnectedness of these themes, highlighting the intertwined nature of blockchain adoption challenges with aspects such as traceability and pricing. Despite the breadth of topics covered, the paper acknowledges its limitations due to the fast-evolving nature of blockchain developments during and after our analysis period. Ultimately, this review provides a holistic academic snapshot, emphasizing both well-developed and nascent research areas and guiding future research in the evolving domain of blockchain in SCM. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain, Technology and Its Application)
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